Smart Technologies and their impact on Collection & Transportation of Waste (1 CEU)

Smart technologies are increasingly involved in every part of our lives. Also their application in the collection and transportation of waste becomes nowadays more and more a reality. It is key for the waste management industry to actively drive this process and to be aware of the challenges but also the opportunities the 4th industrial revolution brings along. This session will provide an overview of the key challenges of the collection and transportation of waste and how smart technologies and the “Internet of Things” (IoT) do or could impact them, by highlighting driving edge technologies.

Panelists

Antonis Mavropoulos is a Chemical Engineer and he holds an Advanced Management degree from IESE Business School. He has been involved to waste management since 1994. He has completed more than 150 projects in 15 different countries and he has worked as an Associated Researcher of National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). He is the author of several scientific and technical papers dedicated to different waste management issues, especially to regional planning, risk assessment, landfill design and treatment issues. He also curates the blog Wasteless Future.

Jason Gates, Co-Founder, Compology, California

Jason Gates developed a passion for the waste and recycling industry at a young age, when he would patiently wait near the window in his home for the garbage truck. Mr. Gates has parlayed that youthful interest into a career by establishing Compology, a San Francisco-based hardware and software company that specializes in solutions for waste haulers.
As founder and CEO, Mr. Gates and Compology co-founder, Ben Chehebar, have built a team of young, talented engineers to develop sensor technology based on image-capture to track the fullness, location and motion of commercial and industrial waste containers. The sensors feed real-time data to Compology's web-based software dashboard, where haulers can make timely, data-driven decisions to improve operations and customer service.

Don Diego Padilla, Vice President, FleetMind, Canada

Don Diego Padilla, II serves as Vice President of Sales at FleetMind Solutions Inc. He is responsible for sales leadership and driving market penetration. Mr. Padilla is a long-time business development leader with a proven track record of accomplishment in the waste and recycling industry sector. He served as vice president of sales, North America, at FleetMind Solutions Inc. since 2008. For more than 25 years, he has built his expertise and understanding of the waste management sector and its fleet management issues to better address his client’s needs and help shape solutions to positively impact their businesses. Prior to joining FleetMind, Mr. Padilla served as the East Coast sales manager for RouteWare, as regional sales director in several divisions of Allied Waste and as president of an automotive financing company. At Allied, he designed a new sales compensation plan and grew Allied’s sales team, which led to significant revenue growth. He studied business management at Brookdale College in Lincroft, New Jersey, and obtained the Six Sigma Black Belt certification from Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania.

Dr Vivek Agrawal is the Trustee Secretary of Centre for Development Communication (CDC), which established the Annakshetra Foundation Trust. He is also the Advisor of Kanak Resource Management Limited (a subsidiary of IL & FS Environment Infrastructure & Services Limited).
Annakshetra collects unused surplus food from ceremonies (that would otherwise be wasted) and makes it available to those in need through a network of volunteers. It is the first organization of its kind in India, which has taken up an initiative called “Zero Food Wastage”.
Dr. Agrawal specializes in solid waste management, communication and urban health. He is working to lift up the informal sector that is involved in the collection and transportation of solid waste management. Dr. Agrawal is also the Chairman and Member of the International Solid Waste Association Technical Working Group, which is involved in collection and transportation of waste issues. He received the UN Habitat Scroll of Honour Award in 2004 on behalf of CDC. He reached semi-finals of Schwab Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and reached the finals of Sankalp Awards in 2010. Dr Agarwal received his post-graduate degree in medical sciences, and his bachelor in mass communications.

Marc Rogoff, Ph.D., Senior Consultant, Geosyntec Consultants

Dr. Marc Rogoff is a nationally recognized expert in the financial modeling of solid waste management systems. With more than 30 years of experience in solid waste management as a public agency manager and consultant, he has managed more than 100 Pro Forma modeling and rate assessments throughout the U.S. on all facets of solid waste management. They include waste collection studies, facility feasibility assessments, asset valuations, transfer station versus long-haul transport evaluations, fleet management and vehicle acquisition planning, MRF contract assessment and operations, and waste conversion feasibility. Dr. Rogoff has directed Independent Engineer’s Feasibility Reports for nearly two dozen major public works projects totaling more than $1.2 billion in project financings. His work has included development of detailed spreadsheet rate models establishing the financial feasibility of each projects, long-term economic forecasts, cash flow and IRR analysis, cost of service, financial assurance, and projected rate impact upon project users and customers. He has written widely in the field and is the author of several noted textbooks covering the topics of financial forecasting and project feasibility.